Woman Astronaut becomes First Human to Walk In Space and Reach Deepest Part of Ocean
Woman Astronaut becomes First Human to Walk In Space and Reach Deepest Part of Ocean
First Woman to Reach the Bottom of Challenger Deep
Dr. Kathy Sullivan, a former NASA Astronaut, a veteran of three space shuttle flights, and the first American woman to walk in space, just set another record in history as she becomes the first woman to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean.
And yet as if this most recent achievement is not enough, according to EYOS Expeditions, another record she now holds is being the first human to have been in space and at full ocean depth.
Together with oceanographer/astronaut Dr. Sullivan in this expedition is the pilot of the deep-diving submersible, DSV Limiting Factor, Victor Vescovo of Caladan Oceanic.
“As a hybrid oceanographer and astronaut this was an extraordinary day, a once in a lifetime day, seeing the moonscape of the Challenger Deep and then comparing notes with my colleagues on the ISS about our remarkable reusable inner-space outer-spacecraft.”
– Dr. Kathy Sullivan
36 years after my space walk, I became the first woman to dive to the deepest known spot in the ocean – the Challenger Deep. #WorldOceansDay pic.twitter.com/KWJxx4fBYR
— Kathy Sullivan (@AstroKDS) June 9, 2020
“We made some more history today… and then got to share the experience with kindred spirits in the ISS. It was a pleasure to have Kathy along both as an oceanographer during the dive, and then as an astronaut to talk to the ISS.”
– Victor Vescovo
This extraordinary achievement has been reported by the EYOS Expeditions, the company that coordinated with the International Space Station (ISS) and the DSSV Pressure Drop, the mothership of submersible DSV Limiting Factor.
Eighth Person to Reach the Bottom of Challenger Deep
Counting everyone else who has reached the bottom of the Challenger Deep, Dr. Kathy Sullivan is the 8th person, based on EYOS Expeditions’ expedition blog.
The first two were Don Walsh and Jacques Picard in the year 1960. Another notable person who has reached the Challenger Deep is National Geographic Explorer James Cameron who made a solo dive on March 26, 2012.
Victor Vescovo, on the other hand, was the fourth person in history to reach Challenger Deep as part of his Five Deeps expedition, where he and his team made five dives in the Mariana Trench last year.
Know more About the Challenger Deep
According to Michael Fry, Senior Map Librarian of the National Geographic Society, Challenger Deep takes its name from the H.M.S. Challenger, a 19th century Royal Navy ship that traveled around the globe to study the world’s oceans.
The Challenger Deep is located at the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench.
In 1875, the depths of the Mariana Trench were first plumbed by the H.M.S. Challenger as part of the first global oceanographic cruise.
With the use of a weighted sounding rope, the Challenger scientists then recorded a depth of 4,475 fathoms (about five miles, or eight kilometers).
Based on the National Geographic Deepsea Challenge: The Expedition: The Mariana Trench, the British vessel H.M.S. Challenger II returned to the spot with an echo-sounder and measured a depth of nearly 7 miles (11 kilometers), in the year 1951.
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SOURCE
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
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